Association Forum - What to do with all this cr@p?

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

What to do with all this cr@p?

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

Ben
Master Marine Consultant

Member Avatar

USA
1234 Posts

Initially Posted - 10/25/2004 : 21:45:49

Hi All,

My State marina winterized their head pump-out machine without letting everyone at the sailboat marina know until it was too late.

So I have a holding tank full of unpleasentness. We have a dump station nearby, but it is gravity fed and I don't know how I could use it. Popular belief is that the local camp grounds' dumping stations are gravity fed as well. Is there a deck pump on the market that I can use to empty

the tank with and dump the stuff in the dumping station?

thanks,

Ben
Beneteau 361
Viking Kitty
Columbus, Ohio

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 10/25/2004 : 22:06:46

"Gravity fed"... I guess that means syphoning... I do that with gasoline by putting a tube into the tank and sucking on it until...

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 10/25/2004 22:08:20

Buzz Maring
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1772 Posts

Response Posted - 10/25/2004 : 22:16:51

YUK!

I'm sure you'll want to get it out before it freezes into a huge block of, uh, "unpleasantness." My only thought is to take a road trip to another marina with pumpout facilities, even if it is a major trip.

This situation has never come up before when we've debated the marine head vs. porta potty issue ... I guess this is a score for the porta potty.

'Sorry to hear it, Ben ... you've had more than your share of "stuff" this year.

HOLD ON ... I was about to post the thread, but another idea dawned on me. Do y'all have septic tank systems up north? If so, maybe you could get a septic tank service to pump it out for you.

Edited by - on

Happy D
Admiral

Members Avatar

921 Posts

Response Posted - 10/25/2004 : 22:29:49

Buzz, that is an excellent idea! Or maybe one of those fellas that rents portable toilets. They suck those out also.
Any construction going on close by?

Edited by - on

Lightnup
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1016 Posts

Response Posted - 10/25/2004 : 22:49:37

Trailering it to Atlantic City and sailing beyond the 3 mile offshore limit would probably be a bit much, huh? Wait 'til it's frozen solid and remove the tank? How about a wet vac...that you're sure you'll never want to use again!

How about a utility pump:[url="http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/shop_cart/pg_print_product.jsp?CNTTYPE=PROD_META&CNTKEY=shop_cart/pg_print_product.jsp&BV_SessionID=@@@@0942517021.1098758507@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccchadcmljmgigjcgelceffdfgidgmj.0&MID=9876&prod_id=594605"]Utility pump[/url]

Buzz's idea of a septic tank outfit or maybe one of those porta-john companies is probably going to be your best bet. Good luck.

Steve

Edited by - Lightnup on 10/25/2004 23:11:08

Buzz Maring
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1772 Posts

Response Posted - 10/25/2004 : 23:04:02

... yeah, I know, the URL is ugly ... - Steve

Hi Steve,

You can negate the scrolling/ugly effect of a long URL by selecting "Prompt" instead of "Basic" ... you'll find those choices next to "Format Mode" near the top of the "reply to message" template.

With "Prompt" selected, when you click the icon to insert the URL/link, a box will pop up and let you name the link (i.e. "utility pump") ... after you hit enter, another box appears where you can paste the URL.

Give it a try ... it's easy once you've done it.

Edited by - on

Lightnup
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1016 Posts

Response Posted - 10/25/2004 : 23:12:48

Thanks Buzz -

It's amazing what one doesn't know that they don't know until they finally know they didn't know it.

Steve

Edited by - on

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 10/25/2004 : 23:32:49

I just winterized today following my usual procedure of pouring a mixture of antifreeze and holding tank deodorant down the head, leaving some in the bowl. Depending on how much...er, stuff you have in your holding tank, you could probably get away with doing the same. Heck, when I got my boat, the PO was gracious enough to leave me with a half full holding tank that had been sitting for a year or two (or three

) in his backyard. The plumbing survived this way for several Michigan winters without antifreeze and without damaging the head, tank, and hoses.

So depending on your level of comfort, you may just want to dump a gallon or two of -60 antifreeze down the head and pump it out next season.

Edited by - on

gnorgan
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
563 Posts

Response Posted - 10/26/2004 : 00:30:38

Honestly, Dave, siphoning???....

You must have spent too much time on the west coast. Or maybe your "fire on the Pacific" experience has tweaked your mind. Maybe it was some bad sushi??? I should read the rest of the posts. I might find a way to pump out way off shore sometime, like way out past the "fiery" 9-Mile Bank.

Edited by - on

gnorgan
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
563 Posts

Response Posted - 10/26/2004 : 00:46:53

Ben, I did a search (from the top of this page on our website) on "holding tank pump" and got this link to this "solids removal" discussion from last January, I believe.
http://www.catalina25-250.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5378& SearchTerms=holding,tank,pump

There are other discussions butt I don't have time to check them all out to find better ones.

Edited by - on

Ben
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1234 Posts

Response Posted - 10/26/2004 : 07:24:54

Thanks for the great ideas, Ya'll. You've all made me feel a little less panicked about my situation.

Edited by - on

coach
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
231 Posts

Response Posted - 10/26/2004 : 14:34:55

Siphoning pumps can be purchased for less than 5 bucks at Walmart.

May take some time to get it all out, but it will work.

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 10/26/2004 : 15:41:14

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by dlucier
 ...when I got my boat, the PO was gracious enough to leave me with a half full holding tank that had been sitting for a year or two (or three

) in his backyard. The plumbing survived this way for several Michigan winters without antifreeze and without damaging the head, tank, and hoses.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
...as in "the grass is always green over the septic tank (all winter long). There's some biochemistry going on, generating heat.

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.